Color vision defects in retinitis pigmentosa

Sixty-seven patients with retinitis pigmentosa underwent color vision testing with the Nagel anomaloscope and Farnsworth-Munsell (FM) 100-hue test. Results showed both similarities and differences among different genetic types. The presence of an atrophic-appearing foveal lesion found in individual cases served as a reliable indicator of performance on color vision testing as did a reduction in visual acuity to less than 20/30. When no foveal lesion was apparent in patients with visual acuity better than 20/30, patients with autosomal dominant disease showed superior performance on color vision testing when compared to autosomal recessive, X-linked recessive, and isolated cases. Regardless of genetic type, the FM 100-hue test was more sensitive in detecting poor color vision performance than the Nagel anomaloscope.